Role models and leadership characteristics

Leadership, like much in life, is about relationships — and the people you lead need to know you and what you value in order to know why they should follow you.

It is personal. Recently, I had the pleasure to hear James Kouzes, co-author of “The Leadership Challenge and A Leader’s Legacy,” speak to two groups of Colorado Springs leaders.

One was a group of 200, 18- to 25-five year-olds; the other was a group of established community and business leaders who attended the 30th Anniversary Celebration for Leadership Pikes Peak.

As a parent, I might have thought these two groups would have different thoughts and opinions about their role models and the characteristics that are important to effective leaders. Interestingly, their views were quite similar.

When asked to identify a category that represented a role model, both groups identified the same top four: community leaders, teacher or coach, business leader and family member. See below how we compare with the national statistics.

Role Models

Youth

Established

National

Family Member

18%

11%

40%

Teacher or Coach

26%

16%

26%

Community Leader

26%

45%

11%

Business Leader

11%

17%

7%

Political Leader

4%

3%

4%

Professional Athlete

2%

1%

3%

Entertainer

1%

1%

2%

None/Other/Not Sure

6%

7%

7%

As someone involved in the community, as an employer and as a parent, the information gave me reason to evaluate my own actions through the “role model” lens.

What do you look for in leaders you admire? What characteristics are important if you are to follow someone’s lead?

Again, our young and established leaders had similar opinions.

Seventy-four percent of the youth and 88 percent of the established leaders said a leader they admire must be honest. Fifty-one percent of the youth and 64 percent of the adults said a leader must be inspiring.

Also selected as a necessary trait was forward thinking (68 percent by the young leaders and 67 percent by the community leader group).

See how we compare to the national data below.

Admired Leaders

Youth

Established

National

Ambitious

40%

20%

21%

Broad-Minded

31%

51%

40%

Caring

29%

36%

20%

Competent

40%

58%

66%

Cooperative

30%

24%

28%

Courageous

30%

39%

20%

Dependable

50%

26%

33%

Determined

38%

14%

24%

Fair-minded

27%

33%

42%

Forward-looking

47%

67%

71%

Honest

75%

88%

88%

Imaginative

25%

32%

23%

Independent

10%

7%

6%

Inspiring

52%

64%

65%

Intelligent

42%

49%

47%

Loyal

30%

20%

14%

Mature

23%

11%

17%

Self-controlled

15%

12%

8%

Straightforward

18%

32%

34%

Supportive

38%

24%

35%

Seeing how we view leadership characteristics, particularly during the recent campaign commercial bombardment, was particularly striking. It speaks to a dichotomy between our values and actions.

In this community we have the opportunity to work to build trust and credibility in our workplaces, with our nonprofit organizations and in the public sector. This will take continual work from each of us, because as leaders and role models, if we want to be followed, we must attend to how we are treating those around us.

Which brings us back to — leadership is about relationship building.

Susan Saksa is the executive director of Leadership Pikes Peak.

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